Labour Right-to-Buy plan would kill off PRS

2 Sep 2019 02:06 PM

Labour plans to force landlords to sell homes to tenants for less than market rates would kill off the private rented sector, says the RLA.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has today proposed a new ‘Right-to-Buy’ scheme for private sector tenants to tackle what he describes as the “burgeoning buy-to-let market” and the problem of landlords who do not maintain their properties.

McDonnell said that, should Labour win the next election, the party would bring in legislation allowing tenants to buy their rental home – and not necessarily for the market price.

He told the Financial Times:

“You’d want to establish what is a reasonable price, you can establish that and then that becomes the right to buy.

“You (the government) set the criteria. I don’t think it’s complicated.”

Mass sell-off

David Smith, policy director for the RLA said:

“Labour’s proposal would effectively kill off a large part of the private rented sector denying a home to many thousands of people.

“If there was to be any chance of this becoming law, there would be a mass sell-off of properties in advance.

“The RLA is all in favour of landlords selling to sitting tenants but it must be entirely voluntary. Anything else amounts to a form of compulsory purchase.”